The UFO album by album thread.

No glitch on the Monkey Puzzle from the 5cd box set.

 

What is the Monkey Puzzle glitch? (I'd like to see if my copy has it)

 

It was a popping noise on Goodbye To You at around the 4:19 mark...

 

Link to the glitch on the Monkey puzzle thread --> http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/ufo-the-monkey-puzzle-cd.95583/#post-10162942

 

Moving on (but going backwards), I thought we'd look at Mogg/Way's Edge Of The World that was released in 1997 on Shrapnel Records. I should have made it the next thing in line after Walk On Water, but it slipped my mind.


MOGG/WAY - Edge Of The World (1997)

Tracks:

Change Brings a Change
All Out of Luck
Gravy Train
Fortune Town
Highwire
Saving Me From Myself
Mother Mary
House of Pain
It's a Game
History of Flames
Spell on You
Totaled

Personnel:

Phil Mogg: Vocals
Pete Way: Bass
Aynsley Dunbar: Drums
George Bellas: Guitar

Studio musicians:

Jesse Bradman: Backing vocals
Matt Gullory: Keyboards
Luis Maldonado: Backing vocals
Eric Martin: Backing vocals

Produced by Mike Varney, Phil Mogg, and Pete Way

Signing to Mike Varney's Sharpnel Label* after things deteriorated with Michael Schenker mid-tour for the Walk on Water tour, UFO continued on as "Mogg/Way" due to the fact that Mogg negotiated half the rights of the UFO name to Schenker to get him to participate for Walk On Water. Now not being able to even use the name that the singer and bass player, Pete Way, originated way back in 1969, the two original members of band call it the logical "Mogg/Way". Soldiering on with guitar prodigy, George Bellas, and the consummate journeyman drummer, Aynsley Dunbar, who has played with everyone and in-betweenfrom Jeff Beck to Jefferson Starship, Mogg/Way seemingly haven't lost much in the two year interval between Walk On Water and The Edge Of The World.

(*Varney's relationship with Mogg dates back to 1985's Misdemeanor where Mogg was connected to guitarist "Atomik Tommy M" after the singer moved to Los Angeles to resume his career after UFO had thrown in the towel after Making Contact).

With Shrapnel label head, Mike Varney, producing the record and furnishing the new guitarist in Bellas, Way and Mogg get down to business and create what is, essentially, a new UFO record. Bellas is a fine player, but looking at his discography he's definitely of the "shredder" variety playing with artists like vocalist for hire, John West, and the band Magellan(?), among others. It's safe to say, probably, that his brief stint with Mogg and Way is the highest profile gig he has ever secured (unless he's done something else of magnum force that I am unaware of). Mogg's voice sounds remarkably preserved still going for it almost thirty years in the biz. Meanwhile, Way adeptly holds down the bottom end; interjecting his tasteful, melodic bass lines into the songs (when he can be heard) and melds well with Dunbar who lays down a solid foundation, but nothing much more.

The production for The Edge Of The World is passable but is, perhaps, a bit too guitar heavy for my liking and focuses too much of Bellas's slashing, acrobatic fretwork that, sometimes, seems to not meld real well with the songwriting. It's almost as Bellas were using these songs as a showcase instead of trying to meld with the rest of the band for the good of the compositions. Bellas's guitar is featured prominently but there is a distinct lack of bite in terms of his sound. Mix wise the guitar sound is a bit flat & lacks dynamics while Way seems a bit buried in the mix. Mogg is there, though, and Dunbar is present as well, but sonically everything seems, well, a tad under developed to my ears.

My other gripe with The Edge Of The World other than its lackluster production, is that the album is just too damn long. A product of its time, the twelve tracks that comprise Edge just becomes too much. Like a lot of CDs in the era (and still to this day), this record would have benefited from culling a few of the tracks to ease listener fatigue, but some believe "more is more" so mileage vary with this opinion.

Despite the overplaying of Bellas and the production elements, Edge delivers some quality material with the rocking "It's a Game", "Gravy Train", and "Fortune Town" while the opener, "Change Brings a Change" delivers with its moody, dense, melodic mid-tempo groove. Edge definitely has its share of rockers and there's good energy on the album, overall, but it would have been better suited if it had included more songs like "Change" that highlight the band's strengths (melody, groove, moxy) more than the faster, souped up rock that a lot of Edge focuses on.

Looking at some of the tracks, second cut "All Out of Luck" puts the spotlight on Bellas's guitar prowess while the team of background vocalists lead by Mr. Big's Eric Martin kind of make for a weird juxtaposition with Bellas's busy, metallic overplaying. The fourth track, "Highwire" pays homage to Herr Schenker aping his intricate style in terms of the main riff as well as copying his love for double tracking melodic figures during the choruses. "Highwire" sounds as close to a classic UFO track as I can think of, especially with keyboardist, Matt Gullory, laying down lines that sound much like former keys player, Paul "Kipper" Raymond's style.

Sixth track, "Saving Me From Myself" comes closest to recreating the opener "Change" as it's more involved and features heavy keyboards and has a more lush, mellow feel to it and stays on a mid-tempo pace through out. Again, though, this track is marred a bit by the background vocals which are used over prominently on the record, as a whole.

Probably the biggest disappointment of The Edge Of The World is that Mogg and Way feel the need to, yet again, fall back on their past catalog and re-record the track "Mother Mary" as if the audience needs a reminder of who these guys are and what they've done in the past. It seems more of a desperation move than a true tip of the hat to their past glory and it rings a bit hollow, unfortunately. That said, Bellas handles the Schenker classic well, but, as said, the song doesn't add much to the album, and, truth be told, kind of breaks the flow the record a bit.

Edge Of The World finishes out with the rocking "History of Flames" and "Spell On You" which are both infectious tunes, despite the backing vocals and the overplaying of Bellas. "Spell" does, admittedly, have more of a restrained feel to it and some nice, harmonies from Bellas, but solo is just too out there. Meanwhile it seems Way is doing his best to be heard by hitting the upper registers of his bass guitar, but it's almost for naught. The final track, "Totaled" is an instrumental workout that features some nice winding, twisting lines from Bellas, but it seems out of place on this record and probably should have been kept for one of the guitarist's many solo outings. Still, some nice passages in it, all the same.

There's definitely nothing for Mogg and Way to be embarrassed about with Edge Of The World as it carries on the UFO name in spirit if not in name. If you liked High Stakes and Dangerous Men you'll enjoy this record as it's fairly similar. Recommended for those that like heavy rock with lots of guitar pyrotechnics and those that are hardcore UFO/Mogg fans as this album will scratch the itch.

 

Great review. I like this album and play it often.

 

Pete Way plays his **** off on this album.

 

Nice review.

I've not listened to that record in a long time. The #1 thing that sticks out in my mind is how Bellas' guitar playing just does not work for me. Way too "shreddy" for my tastes in what I want from UFO. Schenker plays with such a melodic style and in contrast this guy has no sense of melody at all, his playing just sounds like superfast scales to my ears.

And songwise I don't remember a single one. Nothing stood out for me anytime I've listened to this. I did not even remember that it has a cover of Mother Mary on it!!

I will have to listen to it again to refresh my memory.

All this being said I would be remiss if I did not mention that the non-UFO followups Chocolate Box by Mogg/Way in 1999 and Dancing With St. Peter by $ign of Four (Mogg with a new band, from 2002) - both with Jeff Kollman on guitar - are excellent and worthy of the UFO name IMO. Kollman plays very old school style guitar (melodically) as opposed to just shredding his fingers off like Bellas.

 

Yeah, no doubt Bellas is of the Jason Becker/Marty Friedman school in terms shredadelics (I just made that term up) and even worked on a Becker album doing liner notes or something random like that. I have no doubt he was referred to Mogg by Varney because he was an talented guitarist, never mind the fact that he plays with little to no emotion and, as I noted and you did too, he doesn't seem have much melody in his repertoire choosing to go over the top instead of choosing subtlety ever single time.

As to Way's fine playing on this album, I'd say he does on every album, but he's so low in the mix on Edge Of The World that it almost makes no difference what he's doing.

Guitarist wise, Jeff Kollman was a much better guy for what Mogg and Way wanted to do and we'll get to that one shortly.

 

Again I'm pretty much in total agreeance with the above sentiments on the Edge Of The World cd. Bellas doesn't really fit, the songwriting isn't up to the usual standards and the performances have a workman like feel to them more often than not.

Having said that there are some decent tracks but as excited as I was to have a new UFO cd in my hands I was equally disappointed as it just really was ok and with UFO I expect EXCELLENT!

As for the 2 cds mentioned with Jeff Kollman - much much better - but we'll get stuck into those later!

 

I haven't played it in a long time, but I remember it being very good. It is very UFO-ish, and if only it had featured the usual contributions from the mad axeman, we'd be talking about another more than worthy addition to the catalogue. In fact, when you take both Edge Of The World and Schenker's own Written In The Sand, it's not difficult to imagine what another collaboration at that time would've produced.

 

Thanks for that info. Took me a while to get back to this. Turns out the copy I had was an advance promo with no booklet. Guess I didn't like the album enough to bother to pick up the official version but thanks to a recent sale at Deepdiscount I decided to pick one up along with a bunch of other stuff that I've had on the back burner so to speak. Just listened to it and no glitch. And the album is not as bad as I thought either. Has several songs I dig. Don't ask me if the promo had the glitch though - I gave it away without checking after I ordered this one!

 

SHARKS (2002)



Ok....seems like this thread was stopped by some SHARKS! Time to overcome our fears and jump in the deep end with these dangerous creatures of the sea!!

After the complete debacle that was the Covenant tour which fell apart in ugly circumstances in November 2000 soonafter the core of Schenker/Mogg/Way were back onstage (for a couple of tracks with Uli Jon Roth and Jack Bruce) and then amazingly back in the studio for what turned out to be the very last album to feature Mr Schenker before he came to his senses and gave Mogg back his 50% share of the UFO name so they could continue on without him.

Sharks was the result of this final fling and it's a decent album but certainly nothing spectacular to rival the glory days. I'd say overall it's in the same ballpark as the previous Covenant cd - some really good songs and a few destined to be forgotten even by us most hardcore fans.

My favorites are Quicksilver Rider, Fighting Man, Outlaw Man and Someone's Gonna Have To Pay. The album starts fairly strongly but wanes towards the end with the last 3 tracks being pretty lame truth be told. I'd give the album a 7/10 and at the time I was just thankful there was another UFO album at all let alone how good it was or not!!

Schenker looks like a bum and the cover art is crap. Worthy for completists but far from essential for the casual fans.

 

Thanks for reviving this thread, nice review. Would be nice to go through the rest of the albums too!

Sharks to me is the worst UFO album with Schenker; how the mighty have fallen

I thought Covenant was pretty weak, but this one is even weaker. The production sounds off to me, also too many things like gang choruses that are un-UFO like. Just can't get into it.

I think I rated Covenant around 4 out of 10 (if that) and I would have to give this one at least one notch below that.

 

Cool, this was resurrected. I was just thinking of a throwing up a review of Chocolate Box. Would anybody be down for that or do people just want to move on?

 

Go for it!

 

As a complement piece to Sharks I give you a review of Mogg/Way's 1999 release Chocolate Box on Shrapnel Records...


MOGG/WAY - Chocolate Box (1999)

Muddy’s Gold
Jerusalem
Too Close to the Sun
This is a Life
Living and Dying
King of the City
Death in the Family
Whip That Groove
Last Man in Space
Sparkling Wine



Phil Mogg: Vocals
Jeff Kollman: Guitars
Paul “Kipper” Raymond: Keyboards
Pete Way: Bass guitar
Simon Wright: Drums


“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re doing to get” - F. Gump.

Yes, you do! With Mogg/Way you get the rock!!


The second release under the Mogg/Way name due to legal entanglements with Michael Schenker over the UFO name after Mogg agreed to give the German guitarist co-rights to the name to facilitate the Walk On Water album and tour.

To my ears, this is a far better release than its predecessor, Edge of the World that was released two years prior, also on the Shrapnel label, but that time with guitar whiz kid, George Bellas, on the six string instead of new guy, Jeff Kollman ($ign of 4), who appears on this record. And Kollman is the chief reason why this record is so much better: he actually understands how to play within the context of a hard rock band and his playing compliments the music as opposed to glaring, sticking out like a sore thumb George Bellas’s approach.

Kollman is more of a traditional rock player who phrases his lines perfectly and employs a more time honored blues based style which works well with the hard rock tunes that encompass Chocolate Box. (Side note: Kollman while also being a member of $ign of 4 was also the replacement bass player for UFO in 2005 when, once again, Pete Way couldn't tour because of visa issues).

Chocolate Box flows well and, more importantly, sounds really good and that’s saying something for a Shrapnel release. A lot of what head guy, Mike Varney, released on his label was guitar centric stuff that wasn’t always high on melody or, for that matter, listenability, but that’s not the case on this album.

The first three tracks on Chocolate Box are all very smooth, melodic, and infectious. The first track, “Muddy’s Gold”, starts out with a moody guitar/bass figure while drummer, Simon Wright, keeps a moving shuffle beat over it and then the song explodes into a crunchy, grooving stomper with Kollman throwing in powerful, acrobatic licks accompanied by deft chording. It’s a great opener.

The 2nd track, “Jerusalem”, opens with a discordant piano line courtesy of Raymond and then moves into another fast paced, groove heavy, melodic number. I don’t particular like the background vocals on this track (courtesy of Luis Maldonado and Jesse Bradman) which seem to be a decision by the producer to make the track(s) sound more professional and glossy. They’re really not needed here or elsewhere. Great solo from Kollman, though.

“Too Close to the Sun” is a classic UFO tune with powerful, chunky verse structures and more melodic chorus motifs. It might be my favorite tune on the entire record as I really like its groove and the riff structure of the tune. Slammin’! The melodic, easy going “Living and Dying” is pretty sublime, too, with it’s ringing chords during the verses (sounding a bit Alice and Chains like to me) and the tougher, bluesy chorus (with kind of annoying background vocals). Good tune, nonetheless.

Songs that don’t work well for me are “This is a Life” which while containing an out of this world solo from Kollman, the tune is a little too frenetic and the minor laden main riff structure is grating to my ears. Thankfully, it’s not too long. “Death in the Family” is a little too bluesy/rootsy for my tastes. Honestly, it sounds like something John Cougar Mellencamp could have wrote this just as easily (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; just not my thing when it comes to UFO). I’m not crazy about the closer, “Sparkling Wine”, either, as it seems nod to something the Stones or Faces might do (check the background vocals if you disagree, you don’t think those are a nod to Keith Richards or Rod Stewart?). Again, a little too “rootsy” for my liking. Hey, your mileage vary, ok?

“King of the City” shines with metallic sheen and really spotlights Kollman’s playing quite well. The guy is a creative, energetic player. It’s hard to find guys that have the right mix of technical skill and ability to mold themselves into a true band situation and he can definitely do that. “King of the City” with its Hammond organ, courtesy of Raymond, sounds like it could be a Deep Purple song in places, however, the guitar work definitely makes you think otherwise. Kollman’s quick, choppy runs would never be mistaken for the more deliberate, linear riffs of Blackers, but the rest is similar enough, I suppose. “Whip That Groove” does the opposite of what you might think it’d do in that it doesn’t whip or groove, but instead of settles into a lazy, mid-tempo number that highlights some Kollman multi-tracking, but that’s about it. Not a bad tune, but nothing for the record books, either.

“Last Man in Space” is decent. A better title would have been “Last Man in Space Metal” as long as Mogg has been doing this stuff, even to this point. (In truth, UFO isn’t anything close to “Space Metal” — not sure what that is in the first place — but I have seen UFO described with this name before). Probably Kollman’s closest approximation to Schenker in terms of phrasing on this tune, to be honest.

So, I definitely recommend Chocolate Box for fans of Phil Mogg and those that love UFO. It’s definitely along the same lines of the band, just not of the same name. It’s too bad Mogg and Way couldn’t keep going with this line-up instead of bowing to pressure or the allure of getting Schenker back to reclaim the name and higher visibility of the UFO moniker because 2002’s Sharks isn’t nearly as good as this record. But, it’s understandable as to why Mogg and Way elected to shelve this and go with Schenker again at the same time.

 

Great review. This album could have have been released as UFO and fit right in with everything else they'd done.

It's my #2 favorite non-UFO in name but basically a UFO album.

#1 is $ign of 4's Dancing With St. Peter btw, which came out the same year as UFO's Sharks.

Both of those albums blow away Covenant & Sharks IMO (and most if not all of the Mick Bolton, Paul Chapman, Atomic Tommy, Laurence Archer, Vinnie Moore UFO albums too).

 

Well I for some reason thought Chocolate Box came out after Sharks (so much for being a sef proclaimed expert on all things UFO!! - Must be the alzheimers!!)

Anyway I couldn't agree more that this is exactly the type of album that latter day UFO should've been doing rather than the likes of Sharks and Covenant and it's light years ahead of the first Mogg/Way which as previously stated was ruined by weaker songs and Bellas.' non-UFO guitar noodling.

I think having Paul Raymond on board as well certainly helpoed as his compositional skills and tasty keyboards are pretty much essential in the UFO scheme of things.

The Japanese version has a killer bonus track too titled Somebody, Somewhere for completists.

Gotta say that Jeff Kollman is the perfect fit for UFO and I was actually hoping that he would replace Schenker when that moment reared its ugly head but it wasn't to be. Curiously I did see Kollman play with UFO in 2008 at the Rocklahoma festival but he was subbing on bass for Pete Way. Great guy too as are all the UFO members I've met over the years.

Chocolate Box 9/10

 

For those who haven't heard this album here it is complete with Japanese bonus trac (at 48:37)

 

Don't know if anyone's bought or are thinking of buying the new UFO book 'High Stakes And Dangerrous Men' by Neil Jeffries...I did end up getting it and it's ok at best a few glaring errors and zero input from the bamnd other than quotes from other sources. Anyone looking for a decent UFO book is better advised to hunt down Martin Popoff's 'Shoot Out The Lights'

Jeffries book 4/10 Popoff's 8/10

 

Thanks Jason/Jim; another glaring omission in the racks, dammit!

 

Ugh, stupid typos in the review. My biggest Achilles' Heel.

 

Yep I can relate to that!!!

 

...and no recourse to The Rectifier (new title on 'Priest's double deluxe 2nd bonus disc, Japan only 'Cato' [limited] edition, black label, quadraphonic remix.)